Dreaming Under The Same Sky I
by Amorce
Summary: The four of them had grown up together, playing at the island, and talking about the worlds one day they were going to see – Andy just never thought it was actually going to happen. (Sora x OC)
1. Just Like Heaven

A yawn escaped my lips, breaking the silence I had gotten so comfortable in. A content smile was plastered on my face as I stretched my hands into the air. I was seated on the steps that led down the beach, my head going back to resting on my hands to continue watching the waves rolling into shore. As I pushed a few strands of hair from my face, my eyes flickered towards the direction the group was supposed to meet at. Considering how much time I had spent taking my break, I couldn't help but think it was time to meet up with everyone.

Footsteps against the sandy ground caught my attention before I could decide though. My head perked up until I caught sight of a familiar figure in the distance. My eyes brightened up at the sight of Kairi making her way down the beach. I was about to call out her name when I noticed where exactly she was going. A frown began to form on my face as I watched Kairi come to a halt right where Sora was sleeping. The sight of that slacker made my mood go completely down the drain.

Opting to not getting caught in the act like Sora, I moved to my feet and dusted off the sand that clung to my clothes. After doing so, I grabbed the logs and rope I had set out to gather in the beggining before I had decided to rest.

"Whoa!" Sora's voice reached me and forced me to look over just in time to catch Kairi laughing at him. "Gimme a break, Kairi," the young brunette said as he sat up, but joined in with his own laughter in a quick second.

"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here. Now, all I have to do is find Andy," Kairi said as she straightened up and glanced around. Unconsciously, a grin formed on my face at the mention of my name. That girl just knew me so well.

"What? No! This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't—" Sora began to babble, causing me to scoff at the excuses he was saying. The ridiculousness of it was enough to cause me to make my appearance.

"It was only a dream, Sora. No need to cry about it," I called out as I made my way over to them. Kairi blinked, clearly caught of guard, but smiled a few seconds later at my direction.

"It wasn't a dream!" Sora snapped at me, but doubt soon filled his mind, "... or was it? I don't know." He sighed. "What was that place? So bizarre..." he mumbled to himself. My courisity wanted to ask what the dream had been about, but thankfully my pride kept my mouth shut. Instead, I settled with watching Kairi making her way closer to the ocean with her hands holding each other loosely behind her back.

"Say, Kairi, what was you hometown like? You know, where you grew up?" Sora suddenly asked. How quickly the boy could change topics both surprised and annoyed me to no end.

"Hasn't she explained this a million times?" I demanded at him.

"That's because you and Sora keep asking me," Kairi added with a teasing tone. A light blush warmed my cheeks from embarassements and it grew when Kairi giggled at my reaction.

"I don't ask that much, do I...?" I muttered under my breath and quickly averted my eye gaze from Kairi who was only making me feel more consious than I liked to be. Thankfully, she turned back towards the ocean and let me calm down.

"Like I've told you guys before, I don't remember," Kairi stated after a pause and without looking back at us.

"Nothing at all?" Sora pestered, causing me to roll my eyes at his behavior. Couldn't he just let her be?

"Nothing," Kairi responded simply.

"You ever want to go back?" Sora questioned. This time, my eyes shot over to Kairi, interested in what her answer would be.

"Well, I'm happy here."

An involuntary smile appeared on my face. "Really," I said, clearly happy with Kairi's answer. That is, until Kairi continued talking.

"But you know... I wouldn't mind going to see it," she added. My smile faltered the tiniest of bit because of it.

"I'd like to see it too. Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!" Sora agreed, his voice filled with excitement that was almost enough to get me to agree with them. The thought of Kairi going back home though - her original home - and the possibility of her liking it more than here scared me to be honest.

I didn't want them to notice my discomfort though, so I forced a grin and the next words out of me, "So what're we waiting for, then?" As I adjusted the log in my arms, Kairi looked back at us and smiled.

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?"

I quickly turned behind me at the familiar voice. The sight of Riku standing there, with his own log in his arm, made me smile. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

"Hey! Can't you see what I got?" I questioned, trying to show off the log I found along with the rope. Riku grinned in return and walked closer. He threw the log he had been carrying at Sora before stopping by me and Kairi.

"And you two are just as lazy as he is!" he declared. My mouth parted in shock that I had just been compared to Sora while Kairi just giggled.

"So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!" Kairi declared just as Riku plopped down besides Sora. Her words caught my attention immediately. Race? That meant a there was going to be a winner, right?

"Huh?" Sora questioned with a tired tone.

"What, are you kidding me?" Riku added.

I rolled my eyes at the two since I already knew them both well. They were as competitive as anyone could get. I wasn't far behind on that though and I'm really not sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

"Ready? Go!"

I snapped out of my thoughts to see everyone shoot out running. "Hey!" I shouted as I stumbled after them. "That's not fair, I'm carrying stuff!" I snapped as I struggled to keep the log from moving too much as I fought to catch up to them. Kairi's laughter rang besides me soon enough and I found myself joining her.

For some reason it hit me, right then and there, that I was happy.


	2. It Takes a Fool

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?"

I glanced at Sora who had broken the silence between the four of us. Currently, we were situated on the Poapu tree, watching the sunset fall into the ocean. I sat right between where Kairi sat and where Riku stood.

"Could be," Riku answered Sora's question. "We'll never know by staying here."

A bad feeling bubbled up in my gut. All this talk about leaving always upsetted me. I mean, we had talked about it since we figured out there were other worlds out there thanks to Kairi but this is the closest we've been to actually getting things done. I never really thought we would go through with it and put it aside as the ambitious of children. Yet even with the years, none of them had stopped talking about it and I was forced to go along with them. They were my friends after all, I couldn't just leave them.

"But how far could a raft take us?" Sora asked as he leaned to the front to look at Riku. He was always the type to keep the questions coming until his curiosity was satisfied.

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else," Riku explained cooly.

"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?" It was Kairi's turn to ask a question.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this on? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Riku explained to us, his eyes now looking at us. I blinked a couple times, surprised at his words. Had he really been thinking about all that all this time?

"I don't know," Sora responded with a shrug.

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go," Riku said to us, leaving us in silence. I frowned slightly and went over what he said. I liked to believe that we were meant to end up here. If we had ended up in other worlds, we might've not been together; and that's not a thought I enjoy at all.

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked Riku after a small pause.

"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here. I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks," Riku said and gave the young girl a smile.

"You're welcome," Kairi smiled back and for some reason, the bad feeling returned again.

It was true that Kairi was special. If it hadn't been for her, I would've never met Riku or Sora and I probably wouldn't be as happy as I was right then and there. She was the person that chained us all together. Me, one the other hand, I was as ordinary as they would come. I didn't come from an unkown place or anything. My parent's were always busy because of work and I think I grew independent at a young age because of that. In turn, I was a bit more quiet and reserved than most kids my age so it was always hard for me to get friends. They always seemed to grow bored of waiting on me to open up. It was Kairi who patiently stood by me until I got comfortable enough to talk more, joke around, and just be happy. That was something I honestly appreciated from the bottom of my heart.

As I took notice at the darkening sky, I broke the silence that had reached us. "We should probably head back." Everyone agreed and the four of us began to make our way back to where the boats were. Me and Kairi were ahead of the other two guys and as we walked, I couldn't stop looking at the sky. Much less, I couldn't stop thinking what was going to happen if we stepped into a world that we didn't belong to.

* * *

><p>"Andy, you asleep?"<p>

I slowly shifted from the unconsciousness state I had been drooling in. I moved slightly on top of the dock where I had been sleeping on. The wood felt food against my stomach and it was almost enough to get me to fall back to sleep if it wasn't for the footsteps vibrating the floor. A groan left me as I buried my face into my arms to block out the noise. "Tell me when we're leaving," I mumbled as I slipped in that in between spot where you were asleep, yet you could hear the things going on around you. It had been a tiring day, getting the rest of the supplies for the journey, dealing with Sora and Riku's rivalry through the usual competition, and helping Kairi making necklaces had completely worn me out so no one could blame me for taking a nice nap.

"We're about to leave, Andy!" Sora's voice called from the distance. I felt him get closer, almost like he was about to shake me, but Kairi's voice cut in.

"We can stay for a bit longer," she said, and the footsteps began to move to the edge of the dock, probably to sit down. There was a moment of a silence and for a second I thought I had fallen completely back to sleep, yet right as I was in the brink of unconsciousness Kairi's voice snapped me back. "You know, Riku has changed," she stated, causing me to stir a bit.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked with a tint of confusion in his voice.

"Well..." Kairi fell silent. The reason could be she was thinking of a way to explain or maybe that she just couldn't come up with anything.

It came to the point that Sora spoke again. "You okay?"

"Sora, let's take the raft and go — just the two of us!" Kairi suddenly said, causing any sleep I had inside me to be knocked out of my body. My body stiffened up and I had to fight back the urge to move. My eyes were know open, looking through the cracks of the dock at the ocean under us. A sense of dread filled me, mixed with disappointment and hurt.

"Huh?" Sora asked, sounding as surprised as I was.

Kairi then laughed, "Just kidding."

A silent sigh of relief escaped me. I closed my eyes, finding myself needing a moment to calm down. "What's gotton into you? You're the one that's changed, Kairi," Sora stated through this.

"Maybe," she hummed, then continued, "... You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready! Now matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here."

By then, I was staring at the two of them with my head resting on both of my hands.

"What if we can't come back?" I questioned without thinking. Their hands snapped towards me, both with the look of surprise and confusion.

"What?" Sora asked with a frown. I blinked a couple times, realizing that I had just thought out loud.

Before the embarrassment could get a blush out of me, I buried my face back into my arms.

"Oops, just thinking out loud. I'll just go back to sleep."

"Geez, Andy," Sora said as he scratched his head.

Kairi just laughed before looking back at the ocean. "Don't ever change, guys," she said while standing up. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great."

Sighing again, I could only hope she was right.


	3. The First to Rest

_"You know, Riku has changed."_

The conversation from back at the island traveled to my mind once again. Although Kairi was the first friend I had and the person who I admired the most, I think I could say I was closer to Riku than anyone else. Sora and Kairi always found themselves hanging out together and that left me behind at times. Thankfully, it was Riku who always hung out with me at those times so I wouldn't be alone. At least I didn't feel he had changed, on the contrary, he seemed the same from when we were young. He always thought a lot, more than the rest of us ever did anyway. It was just recently that he finally decided to take action on it.

Running a hand through my messy hair, I looked out the window. My hair was something I couldn't control, to be specific something I was too lazy to take care of. Because of that, I usually had my hair in a pony tail to keep it from going all over the place.

The skies had started to be taken over by black clouds. It had even started raining and the harsh winds were only making the storm worst.

I then froze when I repeated what I had just thought. The sight of the storm made me shoot out of bed and rush to put on my shoes back on. "The raft..." I mumbled under my breath as I quickly hurried out the door, not even bothering to tie my hair up. Thankfully my aunt was a early sleeper and a heavy one at that. She wouldn't notice me gone unless someone screamed it.

It took me longer than I would've liked to get to the island. When I did, I hurried to tie my boat before rushing to the cove. I made it to the raft in only a few minutes of time and using the rope I had brought with me, I tied the raft and began to pull it closer to the land with all the strength I could muster. To keep it at shore, I tied the other end of the rope to the closest tree I could get to.

I breathed out with relief at the safety of the raft. The thought of the disappointment of my friends if something happened to the raft already made my heart clench. As much as I didn't want to go through with the plan, my friendship with those guys was far more important.

As I took a break to catch my breath from all of the running, I finally took notice in the yellow lights beaming from the darkness of the night. My eyebrows knitted together as I tried to figure out what they were. Flashlights? Maybe someone forgot them.

Suddenly, the lights began to move, causing my frown to deepen.

"Hello?" I called out and took a step back for precaution. They had begun to move closer, almost like a shadow on the ground, before sprouting out from it. It was pitch black which was not much a contrast with the night. I could barely make out the antennas on its head and the claws that were getting nearer to me by the second. The lights, as it turns out, were it's piercing little eyes.

"What in the world are you?" I questioned right before it jumped. I gasped at the sudden movements and barely dodged the sharp claws aiming for me. As I took a few steps back, I came to notice that more of them were appearing. I searched for a weapon or just anything I could defend myself with but there was nothing around me. I was desperate for anything at that point.

My hand began to clench into a fist but before it could close fully into one, it happen to grasp something cold and smooth. My eyes widened and shot down to take it what I was now holding. I was holding the handle, which was silver with a red and gray circle of weird designs going around it. On the hilt, there was a chain that ended with a small heart that looked like it was silver before it started rusting. Then, it came out about two feet of what resembled a sword. I found myself entranced with the object because I had forgotten about the monsters until one of them pounced on me.

A growl escaped my lips as I felt its claw dig into my arm. I instinctively used the sword and hit the monster back. It rolled over on the ground and then got up while shaking its head. My eyes flashed back at the sword before I moved into a fighting stance. Hanging around Riku and Sora all these years hadn't taught me nothing. Although it was simple sparring and only included wooden swords, I was confident in my abilities enough to take a stand rather than run.

As the monsters began to attack, I hit them back one by one. As happy as I was whenever one or two disappeared, more and more kept coming which barely gave me time to celebrate my accomplishments. It didn't take long before I was out of breath.

Gripping the sword, I glared at the monster that was approaching me. I was getting ready to hit it back but it suddenly froze. It looked around for a bit before becoming a shadow into the ground and scurrying off. The rest of them followed in its steps. I was confused as their actions but couldn't help but feel relieved at the same time. That didn't last very long though because the ground began to vibrate under me before fully shaking enough to make me loose my balance.

I fell on the ground and lost my grip on my weapon. I tried to grab for it but it slipped past my fingers just as a chunk of the island broke off - the part where I was laying on. Fear coursed through me as I my hands began to grab for anything that I could hold. As I held on to a rock for dear life, I finally figured out that a portal in the skies was sucking the island up and me right along with it.

As I stared at the giant portal I was getting closer and closer in, a chain of flashbacks began playing out in my mind. The happy moments I had spent with my friends on the island and how I wished they could've lasted longer. Those were my last thoughts right before I was sucked into the portal.

Then darkness were the last thing I remembered from that day.


	4. A Stumbling Ghost

"It hurts," I groaned as I grabbed my head and rubbed it slowly. The pounding pain in my head attacked me without mercy. I had to stay still for a number of minutes in order to help calm down that headache that seemed to be planning on destroying me. Once it didn't feel like someone was stabbing my brain anymore, I slowly opened my eyes. Looking around, I tried to make sense of where I was when the memories of the prior day came crashing down on me.

I shot to my feet in a swift move, suddenly with a bolt of energy. Unfortunately, that just made my headache worse. "Ah," I gasped as I rubbed my head once again while beganing to walk. Everything was so different from back home and I couldn't recognize anything. Seeing as I had a pretty good memory, if I do say so myself, I found that fact very strange.

It was then that a thought came to mind. A horrible, painful thought that where I was could possibly be another world.

In panic, I walked up to the first person who I could find. It happened to be a lady leaning on a wall. "Um," I fidgeted with my hands. Although I could be pretty outgiong when it came to my friends, I was a shy person when it came to strangers. "... Could I ask where I am?"

The woman stared down at me for a moment before she spoke, "People with noewhere else to turn come to this town."

"But I do have somwehre else to turn to," I argued, hoping that would be enough to get me back home. She only smiled sympathetically.

"You should go to the Accessory Shop for help, kid. If you go through those doors, you'll find it," she said and nodded to a pair of doors. I nodded and gave her the only smile I could muster.

"Thanks," I said before taking off to the building. I went through the doors she said and, once inside, looked around.

"Hey, how can I..." a rough voice caught my attention. I looked over to see a man standing there who, when spotting me, grimaced. "Great, another kid."

"Um, someone told me that I should come here," I explained as I walked closer where the man stood. "That you could tell me where I was."

"My Accessory Shop, what does it look like?" the guy grunted. It took every inch of my will not too roll my eyes.

"I'm talking about this world," I stated, causing him to frown.

"This here is Traverse Town," he explains and I found myself mirroring his frown. So this really was another world. Does that mean that the everyone else is here too? Sora, Riku, Kairi?

"Hm... You don't happ'n to be named Andy?" the man suddenly questioned while rubbing his chin. I stared at him for moment in surprise that he knew my name.

"What? How do you know that?" I questioned and eyed him suspiciously. A grin took his features though.

"Wait 'til Sora hears about this," he then said to himself, making me almost jump over the counter.

"Sora? Sora's here?!" I demanded as I pressed myself against the counter to ask him. Relief ran through me at that. If Sora was here, then everyone else must be there too, right?

"Yup. He's looking for you and your other two pals. Left a while ago," he explained to me. I immediately grinned after hearing that.

"Thanks, gramps! I'll be leaving now!" I called out behind me and quickly headed to the door in hopes of catching up with him. My mood had changed drastically now.

"The name's Cid! Not gramps!" Cid called behind me but I had already left the store by then.

I went around the store, up a few steps, to find myself staring at a pair of large doors with the number two on it. Shrugging, I decided to head over. I found myself in what I guessed was second district. Before I could take more than three steps, the creatures from before appeared from out of no where. My nerves spiked tremendously and I quickly looked around for a weapon. I didn't have the sword from before and I had no idea if I could call it again.

I found myself simply watching them close in one me. My arms shot up to protect myself when suddenly a hand wrapped itself around my wrist and pulled me with them. Stumbling to keep up with the pace, my eyes looked up at the young woman who was pulling me into a building.

"It's not safe being out today," she explained with a smile that matched her soft voice. "I'm Aerith. You can stay here until thigns calm down," she added. My only response was too nod meekly.

"I-I'm Andy," I introduced myself before looking over to the door. "What were those things?" I asked as she began to lead me through the hall.

"Oh, you're new," she observed while glancing back at me. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything in a minute."

We walked into a room that resembled a hotel room. In it, were a duck and a dog. Literally, a dog walking on two legs and duck right besides it. Both wearing cloths.

"Is this them?" the duck demanded and eyed me cautiously.

"No, I came across her being attacked outside," Aerith explained to them.

Although usually I would just remain quiet, seeing as I barely knew these people, but my impatience to find my friends was growing thin. "Could you explain what's going on?" I brought myself into the conversation. Aerith nodded and took a seat on the bed in the room before looking at the three of us.

"Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle, this town, and your home, right?" she asked us.

"Yeah," the duck nodded. I followed his example by nodding as well even though I hadn't believed that fact since just a few minutes ago.

"But they're supposed to be a secret," the dog whispered with his hands over his mouth.

"They've been secret because they've never been connected. Until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed," she explained, closing her eyes in the process.

"The Heartless?" I found myself needing to ask.

"The ones who were attacking you. Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts — that's what attracts them. And there is darkness in every heart."

So those creatures had a name. Heartless, huh? It sounded strange but at the same time befitting.

"Have you heard of someone named Ansem?" I broke out of my thoughts at Aerith's question. I tried to think if I had ever heard the name before but my efforts came out fruitless.

It seemed I wasn't the only one because the dog also seemed confused in the matter. "Ansem?"

"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report," Aerith stated once she saw none of use knew who he was.

"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?" the dog asked and held out his hand towards her.

Aerith shook her head. "Its pages are scattered everywhere."

"Scattered?" the duck demanded.

"To many worlds," Aerith simply stated.

"Oh, then maybe the king went to find 'em," the dog declared while placing his fist in his palm. I glanced at him with a confused gaze. King?

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly," Aerith agreed. At that point, i felt like I was out of the loop.

"We've gotta find him quick!" the dog announced to his friend.

"Wait! First, we need that key!" the duck snapped back.

Aerith nodded. "That's right. The Keyblade. The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade."

"Uh, who has this Keyblade?" I questioned, dumbfounded at the whole conversation.

"The Keyblade chooses its master," she answered simply.

"And you have the key, don't you?" the duck asked her. His foot was tapping on the floor impatiently.

"Over here." She nodded at the door and got up from the bed. The duck began to head to the door first. Just as he was about to open it, it flew open and slammed him right against the wall. Pretty comical if anyone asked me. "Yuffie?" Aerith called out and ran after the young girl that had bared into the room.

Frowning, I looked at the animals and the direction the other two went. I shook my head after a while and ran out the door. I didn't care about other worlds or that keyblade they kept talking about, all I wanted was to find my friends.

So with that in mind, I took off on my own.


	5. In The Daylight

As soon as I made it outside I found myself surrounded by Heartless. These were kind of different from the previous ones though. They had armor and seemed a bit bigger than the original ones. I quickly went down some stairs to avoid them but more and more kept appearing everywhere I went. Dodging a pair again, I went into an alley and found a door that said 'Third Distract' on it. Having no other way out, I went through it quickly. I didn't bother to see if the Heartless were still on my tail and decided to rush down the stairs. It was then that I decided to look over my shoulder to see if they were still there but then I ended up crashing into someone. Hard.

I stumbled back a bit and grabbed my hurting head. Quickly, I glared at the culprit. "Geez, Sora! What where you're going, will you?" I snapped at the guy.

"Me? You're the one who wasn't looking, Andy!" he argued back, wincing at his own pain.

Both of us blinked a couple times before I gasped and pointed at the boy. "Sora!"

"Andy!" Sora grinned. Before our moment of being reunited could go one, we heard the sound of yelling above us. We looked up simultaneously to see the dog and duck from before in the air — and coming straight at us.

As much as I had tried to dodge them, their bodies collided against ours and knocked the two of us to the floor. I had to blink a couple times to regain my vision and when I did, I found myself looking at a giant key. The conversation from before instantly hit me and my eyes widened at the sight of it.

"The key!" the duck, the dog, and myself exclaimed at the same time. Before I could question Sora where in the world he got it, the ground began to shake. Walls erupted from the ground, blocking all of our exits, and Heartless appeared all around us. "Andy, stay back!" Sora called out from besides as he and the other two got into a fighting stance. Glaring at him, my eyes searched for a weapon. I didn't want to just stand back and let Sora do all the work. It was degrading and pathetic on my part.

They had already started fighting and in desperation, I looked down at my hand. If I only I could summon that sword again.

"Watch out!" the duck suddenly called out and forced me to notice the Heartless that had been creeping up on me. My body tensed up and before I knew it it, I had slashed through the Heartless in one swift move. When my eyes caught sight of the sword from before, I couldn't help but grin widely.

"A sword?" the dog asked, surprised and confused at its sudden appearance.

"Andy, how'd you—" Sora started to ask but a giant object suddenly fell from the sky and landed right in the middle of the plaza.

"No time," I called out and got into a stance with the other three at my side. We immediately dove in and started to fight the giant Heartless. All his moves kept making a problem though and I was sent flying back more than a few times. Hitting his hand one last time, I managed to get it to disappear. I was about to yell out my achievement but the Heartless threw me back as revenge. I fell on my butt and he made it's way over to stomp me with it's legs.

"Lightning!" the duck cut in and as he said, lightning came out of nowhere and hit the Heartless back. As it's steps faltered, the dog and Sora proceeded to hit it.

"My turn!" Sora declared as he jumped into the air. His Keyblade hit the Heartless straight in it's chest and I could only watch in awe as it fell to floor and began to shake uncontrollably. After a few seconds, a bright heart came out from it and both it and the Heartless dissolved in thin air.

"You okay, Andy?" Breaking my eye gaze from the spot where the Heartless had been, I looked up to see Sora standing over me with a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes at him but ended up grinning back at him.

"Yeah," I said and helped myself to my feet.

The two animals came over just then and Sora faced them. "So, you were looking for me?"

The two of them nodded.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," a voice cut in from behind me. I looked back and notice a man the girl that had barged in the room before. Thinking back, I think Aerith called her Yuffie.

Just then, the sword disappeared from my hand again without warning. I looked down at the hand that had held it and frowned. My eyes darted over to Sora's Keyblade that was still in his had. It was easy to see that I couldn't control my weapon as much as he could. That statement wasn't something that I liked at all.

"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel," the dog offered and made me look over at Sora.

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi," he mumbled to himself. Snorting, I punched the guy lightly on the shoulder to get his attention.

"What do you mean 'I'? They're my friends too, you know!"

"Of course," the duck suddenly said, causing both me and Sora to look at him with surprise and hope. The thought of finding Riku and Kairi elevated my mood to cloud nine.

The dog leaned in closer to his friend and the two began to whisper among themselves. I frowned at their behavior but decided to stay silent. My curiosity was itching to know what they were talking about though.

"Sora, you and your friend go with them. Especially if you want to find your other friends," the young man said to the brunette.

"Yeah, I guess," Sora sighed and looked at the ground.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad faces. Okay?" the duck explained over to Sora after seeing his expression.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" the dog laughed as he put his face right next to the duck's. In the end, he was pushed away by his own friend.

"This boat runs on happy faces," the duck added.

"Happy?" Sora repeated. Then, he looked up with the biggest grin he could possibly muster. It faltered when he saw all of us staring at him though.

"What was that?" I dead panned.

The duck and dog burst out laughing at the sight of it. "That's one funny face!"

"Okay, why not? We'll go with you guys," Sora finally agreed and I nodded to back him up.

The duck placed his hand out in front of him as he began to introduce himself, "Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy," the dog followed and placed his hand on top of Donald's.

"I'm Sora," Sora chirped and also placed his hand on top of both of their's.

"And I'm Andy," I finished and copied their actions.

Goofy finished the moment off, declaring for all of us to hear: "All for one, one for all!" 

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** First of all, I want to thank the lovely reviews of each and every one of you and anyone who is still waiting for updates on this story. I really am grateful for that and, fortunately, I've felt motivated lately to get this story going. If this chapter seems familiar to some of you, it's because it used to be part of chapter four. I split them up because the chapter seemed so long and, in turn, a bit overwhelming. I also revised the rest of the chapters already posted (1-4). Although I didn't change much but add a bit more detail and correct any errors on my part, it wouldn't hurt to reread them. Other than that, more updates will be coming on the coming days so look forward to that.


	6. All They See

"So, how'd you get the Keyblade?"

Our location was now on the Gummi Ship. After saying our goodbyes to Aerith, Yuffie, and who I learned was named Leon, as well as getting a good parting gift of 100 munny, Goofy and Donald had led us to their ship. It resembled a yellow rocket ship and honestly, the sight of it had me jumping like a kid at a candy store. We had even gotten these strange jewels from Donald and Goofy that made us able to use magic and move around faster. As much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of excited for the journey ahead of us now.

"Well, when I saw the storm, I went to the island to make sure the raft was all right," Sora began to explain. Donald and Goofy were seated on the seats in front of us, with both of us behind them, making four seats in total. "I ran into Riku, but he was acting strange, and then there was this, darkness under us that started to swallow us and just when I thought I was done for, a bright light appeared and I was back on the island, with the Keyblade in my hand."

So he got the Keyblade around the same time I managed to get the sword. His blue eyes that had been on the ground during most of his explanation, glanced up to meet my own. "What about you? What happened during that storm? When'd you get that sword?"

"I went to check on the raft too. Those Heartless appeared though and that's when that sword appeared. After that, the island was being sucked in by that thing in the sky and I went right along with it." As I said my part of the story, I couldn't help but sigh. The thought of it exhausted me just by remembering it.

Looking out the window, I could make out many stars decorating the dark skies. As I had learned, they were all worlds, I think.

I had slept through most of the ride and had talked with Sora the rest of the way to keep myself occupied. It was starting to get old though and my patience was getting thin. "Are we there yet?" I asked and looked over at Donald.

"No," he said without looking back us. I was about to ask him how much longer it would be when the the sound of an alarm went off.

"What's happening?" I called out over the alarms when suddenly the ship began to shake. Because I hadn't bothered to put on my seat belt, I fell straight to the ground.

"We're under attack!" Donald shouted.

I quickly grabbed onto my seat in order to keep myself from sliding all over the floor. Thankfully, the attack didn't last long and the ship finally stopped moving. A frustrated sigh left me and I slowly moved back to my seat, this time putting on the seat belt tightly around me. "That was so not cool," I breathed out all while Sora laughed his butt off.

"I didn't think you're hair could ever get worse," he said over at me. My cheeks immediately heated up and I quickly tried to press my hair down. Through it all, I had forgotten I had ran out the house without putting my hair up and now I was regretting it.

Thankfully, Donald broke in when he shouted, "There!"

Sora's attention turned to what the duck was pointing at and I soon followed. "Whoa! Another world!" Sora exclaimed at the sight of it.

Donald nodded. "We're here; Wonderland!"

The ship came to a halt and everyone stood up from their seats. "Don't just jump the airlock, though. That's a bit dangerous," Donald lectured us he opened the door. "You gotta look both ways before exiting and you mustn't let anyone know we are from another world," he explained while looking both ways, before stepping off the ship. My eyes widened when I noticed that he had stepped into nothing but air.

"Gotta be careful," Goofy agreed and followed close behind Donald.

"That's right," Donald added in.

"Hey, below you!" I cut in and pointed down.

They looked back at me with a confused look in their eyes. "Below us?" They looked down, looked at each other, before a scream left their throats. Instinct hit them as they began to fall and Donald quickly grabbed Goofy's hand, who grabbed Sora, who in turn grabbed me as much I had protested. As my feet left the ship, I tried to find anything to grab a hold of but nothing came to sight; heck, I couldn't even see the ground. That was until I began noticing the various things floating around us. There was a chair, a clock, a chimney, and more strange things followed.

I searched for the other guys and came to spot Goofy who going head first to the ground with his hands resting behind his head comfortably. "Check this out!" Sora called out, causing my attention to drift to him. He had began swimming in the air and doing some flips.

"Oh yeah?" Donald challenged and began to show off his own moves.

Before I could call their actions silly, I noticed we could see the ground now. "Guys—!"

It was too late. Donald landed first, then Goofy, then me, and finally Sora — all on top of each other. "Sora!" I groaned at the weight on top of me.

"Sorry!" he said and stood up. He put his hand out for me to take. I only stared at it for a couple of seconds but ended up pushing it aside and getting up on my own.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

We turned to see a white rabbit running past us. "No time to say hello goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The Queen, she'll have me beheaded as sure as ferrets are ferrets!" As he continued off in the distance, the four of us looked at each other with a confused look.

"Should we follow him?" I questioned with a tint of doubt in my voice. It seemed everybody agreed though and we set off after it where we could hear it's voice.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

We entered a room with no sign of the talking rabbit. "I wonder where he went," Sora mumbled before noticing something. "He shrunk!" he exclaimed, looking at the mini-rabbit running through a small door.

"How did he get so small?" I found myself thinking out loud, "And what was he late for?"

"No, you're simply too big." Everyone jumped back at the sudden voice and we came face-to-face with the door knob that had just spoken.

"It talks!" Donald exclaimed as it yawned tiredly.

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up," he complained at us.

"Good morning," Goofy greeted him with a smile.

"Good night! I need a bit more sleep," he snapped and prepared himself to go to sleep.

"Wait, what do we have to do to grow small?" Sora questioned as he leaned closer to it.

"Why don't you try the bottle... over there?" he said, causing us to turn around. When we did, a table appeared in the middle of the room with two bottles sitting on top of it. We walked over to it and studied them, both had different labels on it.

"Andy, you try it first," Sora said, causing me to look at him like he had grown two heads.

"Why me? You do it!"

"Oh, quit it. I'll try it," Donald snapped and pushed his way between us. Grabbing the bottle, Donald took a sip while the rest of us just watched his actions. After a few seconds, Donald slowly began to shrink, causing me to gape in amazement.

Soon we were all small and had gone over to the talking door again. We were only greeted with it's snores though and as much as we had yelled — which was mostly on Donald's part — it wouldn't wake up.

"Uh, guys," Goofy suddenly called out. We looked over and noticed the small passageway behind the bed that Goofy was pointing to.

"Good job, Goofy!" I praised as we hurried to squeeze through it. We ended up in a sort of garden. In the middle, something important seemed to be going on because it was filled with cards and had several podiums.

"The rabbit!" Sora pointed out, causing all of us to notice the thing we had been chasing was now playing a trumpet.

After setting the trumpet down, the rabbit announced to everyone, "Court is now in session!"

"I'm on trial? But why?" a blonde girl that was standing in the middle of garden asked up at him with surprise.

The rabbit didn't put any mind to her though and instead continued speaking. "Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!"

I looked over to where the woman sat, lavished in obnoxious clothing and a crown on her head. It was obvious she was the Queen of Hearts. "This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it," the Queen stated, matter-of-factly. "And the reason is... because I say so, that's why!"

"That is so unfair!" the girl cried.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?"

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!" the girl stated at her.

"Silence! You dare defy me?" the Queen snapped at her. It seemed she was set on accusing the girl whether or not she was guilty or not.

"Hey, guys, we should help her out," Sora suggested to us. I wanted to agree, but I wasn't the type to be able to run out there and be a hero. The thought of that action already make me nervous.

"Yeah, but the—" Donald began to say, before Goofy cut him off.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" he said.

"Meddling!" Donald corrected.

"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules," Goofy said with a nod.

"The court finds the defendant... guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart... Off with her head!" the Queen's ugly voice brought our attention back to the trial.

"No! No! Oh, please!" the young girl cried out. There was a pinch in my chest at the sight of it and for that moment, I forgot about rationality and my feet began to take a step froward when I noticed a figure rush past me and —

"Hold it right there!"


	7. A Jump Away

Everything stopped.

All eyes turned to the direction of the outburst only to find Sora standing there with the most defiant look I had ever seen. Seeing as our cover was blown, the rest of us followed after him and came to a stop right besides him. The nervousness of standing in front of so many eyes was already causing me to fidget.

"Who are you?" the Queen demanded, her face growing red with anger, "How dare you interfere with my court?"

"Excuse me. But we know who the real culprit is!" Sora announced to her. It amazed me how easily he could jump into the spotlight without even flinching. Of course, I would never admit to that fact; especially to Sora.

"Uh-huh. It's the Heartle—" Goofy begun to say, but he quickly placed his hands over his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

"She's not the one you're looking for," I added. Although my voice didn't come out as strong and confident as I would've liked, at least it didn't falter like I thought it would.

"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" the Queen retorted. At that question, none of us said anything. The young girl was taken from her original spot and thrown in a cage besides the podium that the Queen sat in.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence! Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready," she snapped down at us. My hand shot up to my throat, wondering how it would feel like if someone chopped off my head. I quickly decided it would be best if I didn't think about it and instead turned to the guys.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, already feeling tired from thinking of all the work we would have to do. I looked directly at Sora, seeing as it had been him who decided to be the big hero and save the day. In the end, I didn't disagree with his decision though. The simply fact that he jumped in without thinking of the consequences was what peeved me.

"I guess we should start looking," Sora said as he rubbed the back the back of his neck. Deciding on the plan, the four of us left the gardens and entered a dense forest. We hadn't made our way too deep into it when suddenly the head of a purple cat appeared out of midair.

The four of us came to a stop quickly and, just as quick, the head disappeared. Confused at the sight, I found the need to rub my eyes and when I opened them, I found the head grinning back at me again. I think no one could really blame me when I jumped back a few steps.

"Who are you?!" Donald growled, instantly going on high alert at the sudden intruder.

"Who, indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!" the cat giggled. By the sound of it, it almost seemed like he was mocking us.

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" Sora demanded.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers — but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in the darkness." With that, the Cheshire Cat disappeared from our view.

"Wait!" I called after it but it didn't appear again. What kind of person — well, _animal_ — talks in riddles? The worst part is that he is just leaving us to figure it out. To be honest, I've never been good at mind games, mostly because I lack the patience.

The cat's voice rang through the forest again, though he was still no where in sight. "They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

After a pause of silence, Donald turned to us. "Should we trust him?"

I was about to speak when the Cheshire Cat appeared again. "To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!"

My temper glared at its reappearance and I found my voice echoing through the forest the next second.

"Oh, will you go away already!" 

* * *

><p>"Now, show me what you have found."<p>

It wasn't an easy task, but we managed to find all of the pieces of evidence that the Cheshire Cat had talked about it. We had even learned a new spell, Blizzard, through it. Now, we were presenting our findings in front of the Queen.

"Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time. All right, then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence," the Queen ordered. I felt my anger rise once again.

"What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" Sora seemed to take the words out of my mouth.

The Queen snapped back quickly, "You dare object? Then you will lose your head! Now, choose! One box!"

Sora slowly made his way where the boxes of evidence stood. After a moment to think, he made his chose and the box was opened.

Out of it, popped out a Heartless and before any of us could pull out of our weapons, it disappeared in a quick second.

"What in the world was that?" the Queen asked, both surprised and confused at what she had seen.

"That was your evidence," I spoke up, feeling a bit of confidence now that I saw we could prove Alice's innonce. "So let Alice go," I added, but I could feel myself shrink at the intensity of the Queen's glare on me and soon the queasy feeling from before returned. "Um, please...?"

The Queen growled and her anger had grown evident in her face. She jumped to her feet before shouting at the top of her lungs, "Silence! I'm the law here! Article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!"

"Oh, that is _so_ messed up," I accused, using my irritation as fuel, and began trying to muster all my inner strength to call out my sword. I already knew things were going to end up bad as soon as those words left her mouth.

"That's crazy!" Donald yelled.

The Queen looked at all of us for a moment, then yelled out her orders. "Seize them at once!"

A card ran to a tower behind us and after pulling a lever, made the cage where Alice was rise out of our reach. "Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!" the Queen snapped, causing her minions to quickly head over to protect the tower.

"Andy, c'mon!" Sora called and grabbed my wrist to pull me back as the cards began to move closer to us. "We'll fight them off, you get the cage down," Sora said as the three got in a position to fight. As much as I wanted to argue, I did as I was told and ran towards the tower. I used all my strength to pull the lever but the thing wouldn't budge an inch.

"Move, Andy!" Donald snapped as he made a bee line towards me. After I did so, the duck summoned a lightning out of no where to hit the tower, causing it to shatter and crumble to the ground. The sight of it was enough to cause all the fighting to stop and all heads turned to the cage that had fallen to ground. With the red drapes now revealing the insides, we came to face with an empty cage.

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald gasped once he saw it.

"You fools!" shouted the Queen. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" The cards saluted her almighty before taking off to find the culprit. Sora quickly made his way to us.

"I think I saw someone going into the forest, we should check there," he suggested and we nodded right away. Quickly, we headed to the forest where we had searched for the evidence and to our luck, the Cheshire Cat made it's appearance once again.

"Have you seen Alice?" Donald cut straight to the point.

"Alice, no. Shadows, yes!" Cheshire Cat responded with that annoying grin of his.

Goofy asked, "Where did they go?"

"This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" His choice of wording was giving me a headache. All the riddles were a royal pain.

We followed his instructions on going deeper into the forest though, and found a pathway that we hadn't noticed before. When we went through it, we came to find a large table that had various teacups on it and a small house right besides it. At the end was a picture of a bunny and a man with a big hat. Right besides it was a saying that wished us "a very merry unbirthday".

After that we went through the small house and found ourselves back in the Bizarre Room. The only problem was that we were on the ceiling.

"So this is what he meant by upside-down room," I mumbled as I stepped over to Sora and grabbed the hem of his jacket. He glanced over at me with a confused look.

"We're not going to fall, you know?" he informed me, causing me to snort.

"I know that, but it still creeps me out! Just keep walking," I snapped at him and quickly turned my head away in a futile attempt to hide the change of color on my cheeks. He laughed at my behavior but continued walking with me holding on to his clothing the entire way. As we made it to the center, the Cheshire Cat appeared once again.

He sat on a table that held an unlit candle on top. "They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light." With that, he was off again.

Sora turned his head to look at me again. "Uh, Andy. I think you're going to have to let go for this," he said with a sheepish smile at me. I looked around and noticed Donald being the closest one to me. As soon as I let go of Sora, I quickly moved to grab onto Donald's shirt.

"Hey!" he shouted, clearly not happy with my actions.

"It's not like I want to either!" I yelled back back at him. My frustration was up to the ceiling, err, floor in that case. Thankfully, Sora lit the candles in no time and came back over. As soon as he did, the cat was back again.

"I'd worry about the doorknob if I were you," he chirped before disappearing again.

"Doorknob?" I asked, confused in the matter.

"Let's go," Sora led us out of that place, and fortunately I was able to walk on my own again without being scared. From there, we headed back to the Bizarre Room, but this time, the normal one. We spotted the Cheshire Cat on top of the table so we made our way up there through the chair.

"The shadows should be here soon," he stated once we made it up to the table. "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"

As soon as the cat left, a giant Heartless fell from the sky like last time in Traverse Town. "Andy, can you get that sword of yours out now?" Donald asked with a bit of urgency in his voice.

"I-I'm not sure," I stammered as I clenched and unclenched my hand repeatedly. Sora glanced back at me and although I thought he was going to say something, he simply turned back to the front and charged at the Heartless. He jumped from the table and hit the creature straight in it's chest and, while still in the air, used a combo to knock it down to it's feet. Donald and Goofy quickly joined him on the ground and the three began to team up on it.

I gritted my teeth out of annoyance and glared down at my hand. I hated feeling useless while the rest of them did all of the work. The sword had only appeared two times in total and both were simply because I was in danger.

My head then perked up in realization. Without hesitation, I jumped from the table and ran over to where the Heartless was. It spotted me quickly and it began to cast a Fire spell my way. My heart was racing like crazy by that point. "Andy!" I heard Sora's voice call out just as the fire ball got closer and closer to me. I stayed still nevertheless and glanced down at my hand with anticipation. Why was it taking so long?

The fire ball was only inches away from me when I was knocked to the ground by someone. Pain shot through me as my back collided with the ground and the weight of someone fell on top of me. Wincing, I snapped my eyes open to find Sora over me. "What is wrong with you? Rushing to the Heartless when you don't even have a weapon!" Sora demanded as he looked at me like I was crazy. He looked pretty convinced that I had lost my mind when laughter spilled out of me.

"It's back," I breathed, causing Sora's eyes to finally notice the object in my hand. He slowly got to his feet, all while staring at the sword in my hand. I moved to stand as well but stumbled a bit. My knees probably would've buckled if Sora hadn't moved to help support my weight. "Ah, I was so scared," I mumbled to myself even though I was pretty sure Sora could hear me. At that point I was too busy trying to control the fear inside me to bother containing myself and my stupid words. I took in a sharp breath and after a few seconds, I was able to recollect myself. "I'm okay, I'm okay," I stated and sent a reassuring smile to the boy besides me. Although he didn't look like he believed me, he took a step away to let me stand on my own.

Giving a final nod, both of us quickly headed to assist Donald and Goofy with the Heartless. It didn't take long for us to finish the Heartless together and soon enough, Sora made the final strike with a Blizzard and sent the thing tumbling to the ground. Then, like last time, a heart came out of it and both of the things faded into the air. A marvelous sight to say the least.

"What a racket," a voice called out, causing our attention to turn to the doorknob again. It seemed it had finally woken up. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" he questioned before letting out a loud yawn. As he was doing so, a bright light began to glow from the doorknob's mouth; or keyhole to be specific.

At the same time, the tip of Sora's Keyblade began to glow. By itself, it pointed it's tip to the keyhole and a ray of light burst from it and into the doorknob's mouth. A strange noise echoed in the room when the light began to fade away.

"What was that?" Donald asked.

"You hear that? Sounded like something closed," Sora said as he looked at his Keyblade with curiosity. Just then, something fell to the floor and Goofy leaned over it to take a closer look.

"This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir," he declared after inspecting it.

Donald went over it to pick it up. "Okay, I'll hold on to it."

I looked down at the sword in my hand. I think I was getting better control over it because it was starting to last longer than the other times. Although that might be due to the fact that I was concentrating like a mad person to keep it from fading away.

"Splendid. You're quite the hero," a familiar voice made my skin crawl. I turned around and, like I thought, was greeted by the Cheshire Cat. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here," he said before anyone could ask. "She's gone! Off with the shadows, into the darkness."

I was about to ask him what he meant by that but he quickly disappeared.

"No..." Besides me, I noticed Sora's shoulders slump down at the news.

"Let's go back to our Gummi Ship. We might find her in another world," Donald suggested as him and Goofy passed both Sora and I, as they began to head back the way we came from. His words seemed to do little on helping Sora's mood. Before I could follow, the sight of Sora's face made me come to a halt. My lips formed a thin line and my sword disappeared from my hand right then and there.

"Hey, lighten up, Sora," I state with a tint of mocking and irritation in my voice as I slapped my hand on Sora's back when I passed him. He stumbled a bit to the front and when his eyes looked up for me, he caught sight of me grinning back at him as I ran towards to the direction Goofy and Donald had headed in. "Race you to the Gummi Ship!"

"H-Hey!" Sora called out before taking taking off after me. I looked back for a second to make sure that the sad expression his face had held a few seconds later was gone. Thankfully, his blue eyes were only filled with a determination to win against me now.

Which was, at least in my mind, a much better look for him. 

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** All the wonderful people interested in this story is really motivating me to update as quick as possible. I'm trying to put in more Andy/Sora moments, like requested, although most of them are subliminal (for now, at least). Romance really isn't the main genre of this fanfic, if you haven't noticed, but it will certainly be a part of it. Once again, thanks for the reviews, the favorites, and the followers. They really do get a smile from me every time I see them!


	8. Campaigned for Nothing

"This place is huge," I said, eyeing the large coliseum at the new world we had arrived in. Besides me, Sora nodded in agreement as we walked up the steps. Considering that the last world we were in had a crazy woman as a queen and subjects that consisted of cards and rabbits, I honestly thought nothing would surprise me when we walked through the doors of the building. Of course, I was immediately corrected when I came face-to-face with a short man with the lower half of a goat.

"I wonder what this place is." I heard Goofy's voice somewhere around me but my eyes were still on the stranger, both filled with surprise and confusion.

"I'll ask him," Sora said once noticing who (or what) I was looking at and began walking towards him. I wanted to tell him to be careful, since I've heard rumors about goats willing to eat anything, but I didn't want the goat man to notice me of all people so my mouth remained shut. No, I would rather Sora be the one to take the lead in this one, thank you very much.

"Um…"

Sora didn't get the chance to say more than that. "Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games," the short man cut him off and I nearly jumped out of my skin when he talked.

Sora turned back to look at us, his eyes filled with confusion at what to do. Eventually, he shrugged and headed towards the pedestal that man had mention. We all followed suit quietly, and at a count of three, the four of us pushed against the piece of stone. As much as we tried, the thing didn't budge an inch.

"It weighs a ton!" Sora exclaimed, stepping back and wiping the little sweat that had formed on his forehead.

"Well, tell that to him," I said and pointed my thumb behind me towards where the goat man was. With a small nod, Sora headed towards him again.

"It's way too heavy!" he stated, causing the guy to freeze.

"What?" he demanded, almost like Sora had said the craziest thing in the world. "Too heavy? Since when have you been such a litte—" he turned around looking straight ahead but quickly came to a halt when he found nothing there. Slowly, his gaze lowered until his eyes landed on Sora. "Oh. Wrong guy. What're you doing here?" He hopped down from the stone he had been standing on and walked over to us. "This here's the world-famous Coliseum — heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."

Pip-squeaks? Oh, I was ticked off now and Sora seemed to share the same feeling by the looks of his face.

"Look, it's like this," the man began to explain when he noticed we weren't budging. "Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

"You got heroes standing right in front of you," Donald stated, matter-of-factly, while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yup. He's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade!" Goofy said and placed his hands on Sora's shoulders. I couldn't help but snort at the proud look that came upon Sora's face in that moment.

"And we're heroes, too," Donald added quickly. Although I enjoyed the fact that Donald included us in the mix, I really had a hard time believing I was classified as a hero. Especially with how little I'd been contributing thanks to my lack of control I had over my weapon. Unconsciously, I flexed my hand in and out of a fist. As much as I had practiced since we departed from Wonderland, not much came out of it.

"Hero? That runt?" the guy questioned before bursting out laughing. I glanced at Sora's direction, knowing that by looks alone no one could guess he had been chosen by Keyblade to save the world, and ended up chuckling along as well. At the sound of it, Sora's head quickly turned around to look at me, frown, and then look back at the still laughing man.

"What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters!"

His laughter died down and, in a matter of seconds, his face grew serious again. "Hey, if you can't even move this..." he said as he walked over the pedestal we had tried to move earlier and began pushing it with no success, "you can't call yourself..." he turned around and tried pushing it with his back that time, "... a hero!"

Then he fell to the ground and had to take a moment to catch his breath. When he saw the looks on our faces, he rolled his eyes and got back to his feet.

"Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Well, well, let's see what you can do." 

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><p><strong>AN:** So I updated. It's a bit short but it's something, right? I want to thank the lovely people who spent some of their time to leave me some lovely reviews. _nostalgicCyanide_ was a complete sweetheart for telling me to take my time (which I did for quite awhile, huh) so I wanted to tell you thanks for that and that most of the time, I write out all of the scenes in one specific world at once so that I don't have to go back to it. That's why I updated so fast in the last chapter, because I wrote the two Wonderland chapters in one go. It's when their going to a new world that I usually end up taking some time to write. Oh, and _kingawesome_, I do not blame you at all! Personally, I'm more excited for the KH2 part of the story and maybe BBS if I do decide to do it. About Andy having a nobody or not, I'm still trying to decide. I'm leaning towards one more than the other (not telling which one though!) because of a plot idea I have but I probably won't decide until the last second. Sorry for anyone not wanting to read my responses to some of the reviews but I'm not and probably won't get used PMing people on this site so please bear with me sometimes. Other than that, this world will probably be three parts in total and they'll be out as soon as I go over and revise the other chapters. Thanks for your time! 


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